


Coming Home

by allyouneedissleep



Series: Coming Home [1]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Barney took over for Clint, Canon Rewrite, Canonical Character Death, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Depression, F/M, Fix-It, M/M, Pre-Slash, Self-Doubt, pre Winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25225510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyouneedissleep/pseuds/allyouneedissleep
Summary: After the Battle of New York ends and the aliens are all sent away again, Clint disappears. At first, he just needs to get away from SHIELD because he can’t take the way all of his coworkers look at him; whether in pity for being controlled by an alien God, in envy for being called up to the Avengers by futzing Captain America, or in anger at having been the one to kill their friend, partner, lover, or family. Then Clint stays away because he’s trying to get away from himself.
Relationships: Barney Barton & Clint Barton, Barney Barton/Laura Barton, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Series: Coming Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827553
Comments: 18
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off a tumblr prompt basically saying "what if Barney answered Clint's phone when the Avengers called because Clint was asleep and it was really him all along". Well I didn't quite like that, so I made it my own. It VERY CLOSELY follows both Avengers and Fraction!Hawkeye comics canon but switches Barney and Clint around to fit the story.
> 
> The entire story is finished, and will be posted a chapter a day. I'm currently working on a sequel one-shot as well.

After the Battle of New York ends and the aliens are all sent away again, Clint disappears. At first, he just needs to get away from SHIELD because he can’t take the way all of his coworkers look at him; whether in pity for being controlled by an alien God, in envy for being called up to the Avengers by futzing Captain America, or in anger at having been the one to kill their friend, partner, lover, or family. Then Clint stays away because he’s trying to get away from himself. 

Without realizing it, he’s officially gone Missing In Action. Clint is so far off the grid he may as well be dead. 

Clint didn’t grow up with much, and he’s never really needed much so he decides to pack up a backpack and go. Flying economy is no one’s idea of luxury, but he’ll sit in a middle seat any day if it takes him far enough away. And thus began his journey to see the world. 

The plane touches down in Rome and Clint heads straight to a pizza making class. He entirely blames this idea on marathoning  _ Master of None _ on Netflix and how he likes pizza far more than pasta. He proceeds to spend the next two weeks following his own self-guided pizza tour through Italy before deciding to learn how to harvest coffee beans.

Colombia treats Clint well. He learns that, in addition to coffee, if he ever wants to get cosmetic work done he should come back. Clint is almost convinced to get Botox to hide his nonexistent wrinkles, when he decides to send Barney a postcard. The front is an obnoxious array of rainbow colors announcing Bogota, Colombia and on the back he pens a quick note.

_ B, _

_ You should come get cheap Botox.  _

_ Not saying you need it but you need it. _

_ C _

Clint waits until after the mail is picked up on Saturday night before dropping the letter in the box and getting on the first flight that will get him off South America. Which is how Clint finds himself back in Europe, where he hops on the first train he can to Ankara, Turkey. He heard there was a place where he could see hot air balloons, and well, he has always liked being up high. He doesn’t mean to, but before he knows it he’s sending postcards from half of his travels to Barney and the kids; he can’t send them from all his destinations, because he isn’t ready to be found just yet. Clint trusts his brother for the most part, but he doesn’t trust Natasha not to try and manipulate him into sharing the information on what he’s up to. 

Before he knows it, Clint has been on a safari in Tanzania, ridden camels in Morocco, pet penguins in Argentina, hiked Machu Picchu in Peru, caught fish in the Tokyo Fish Market in Japan, farmed rice in Laos, watched the Northern Lights in Norway, visited a hobbit hole in New Zealand, and surfed in Australia. He’s been all over the world but he’s only gone back to North America twice: once to kayak and zipline in Costa Rica and once to see baby Harlans born in Alaska. He’s been on a dozen or so other excursions but those ones he’s keeping from Barney; they’re just for him.

Honestly, Clint is  _ tired _ . He’s tired of running away, and he’s tired of pretending to be happy seeing the world. So, Clint thinks, it’s time to go home.

_ B, _

_ I’m tired of running. _

_ I’m tired of just existing. _

_ I’m going home. _

_ C _

When Barney gets the letter this time, and seriously when did he start expecting postcards from his brother, he has to sit down for a minute. He’s incredibly worried that his brother has decided to end his life. For the next week he obsessively searches for any sign of a body looking like his younger brother has been found. He comes up empty handed and doesn’t know what to do. Finally he goes to his wife and asks her to weigh in on her thoughts of the letter. 

“Have you ever considered that he really meant he was just going home?” Laura arched an eyebrow at her husband.

“Well where would you consider home if you’ve never really had one?” Barney asked sarcastically.

“I’m on your side babe,” she huffed back.

“Guess it’s time to start at SHIELD and work my way from there,” Barney hugged and kissed his wife before heading to pack a bag.

Barney begins his search at SHIELD headquarters. His name barely gets him in the door and even dropping both Hawkeye and Black Widow’s government names only gets him a second glance. He sits in the waiting room long enough to overhear two agents discussing how happy they are that SHIELD has officially stopped calling Hawkeye in for missions and that they’re glad he decided to take an extended leave of absence. One even goes as far as saying that she hopes he never comes back. If this is the kind of welcome his brother was receiving after having his brain messed with, he totally understands why he ran away. SHIELD is officially written off as a dead-end.

Even though it pains Barney to think of Waverly, Iowa as  _ home _ , he decides that needs to be his next stop. After all, it’s where the two of them had their humble beginnings. Their childhood home has seen better days. Stepping over the broken step, he makes his way into the house itself and finds that the place has been ransacked. Barney spends the next twenty minutes looking for any sign that the person who absolutely destroyed this place was his brother and not just a group of teens looking for shit they could sell. 

Back on the road, Barney finds himself on his way to their grandma’s house without even having thought about it. Yet, grandma’s house doesn’t hold any clues either as there is a new family living there now, and Barney didn’t even know the property had been sold off. Shows how much attention he was paying while his children were being born. 

After a quick stop back home to regroup and see his family, Barney heads to every single one of their foster families to see if Clint can be found. He’s at the last family he can hunt down before it hits him that he has been incredibly stupid for the last two weeks. He knows exactly where Clint is, he just needs to find what city he could possibly be in now. 

It takes Barney another week and 3 different locations before he finds Clint, shoveling shit, travelling with a North American circus. 

“What the hell ya doin’ Clint?” Barney shouted across the pile of elephant shit.

“Shoveling shit, whaddya think?” Clint gestured with the shovel.

“Clint,” Barney huffs out while covering his face with a hand, “why are you shoveling shit with this no name circus?”

“They were the first ones to offer me a job,” Clint shrugged. 

“Clint, come home,” Barney sighed.

“I am home Barn. The circus is the first place I ever truly felt at home, and yeah that one turned out shit in the end but we’re ignoring that in place of the happy memories”, Clint murmured.

“I will literally pay you to take two steps away from this pile of shit so we can continue this conversation somewhere else,” Barney said.

“Aye Jones, I’m taking my break,” Clint shouted.

Barney followed Clint to a little trailer on the other side of the circus where he proceeded to try and convince him to come home with him to visit Laura and the kids. “Come visit, the kids miss you. They wanna hear all about the travels you sent us postcards of, Lila really wants to know how the penguin felt.”

“I miss the kids too Barney, and you know I would love to visit,” Clint began.

“But? Come on Clint, I know there’s a but in there,” Barney pleaded.

“But I’m just not ready yet,” Clint scratched the back of his neck. “Honestly, I just don’t want to leave. I really feel like I’m meant to be here right now, and well I signed a contract so I can’t just walk away from here. I mean not if I want to be taken seriously in any job I do from here on out.”

“You didn’t even use your real name!” Barney exclaimed.

“True as that may be, I can’t leave. I mean I just won’t,” Clint argued.

Barney was beyond frustrated with his younger brother. He finally thought he was breaking through to him and he just couldn’t get his head around why he was being so stubborn about this.

“Barney, listen, the thing is,” Clint clasped his hands together, “New York futzed me up, and I know it might not be healthy but I’m dealing with it, okay? It’s my way and I’m working on it and I will do whatever I possibly can to be the Clint you know and love, but right now,” Clint’s voice broke, “right now, I need you to be there for me. I need my big brother. Trust me.”

“Okay, Clint. Okay. Whatever you need,” Barney swallowed hard.

“But you have to promise me one thing Barn, you owe me that much,” Clint looked at him.

“Anything,” Barney said, and the thing was, he actually meant it. Anything that Clint could have wanted from him right at that moment he would have done.

“Don’t tell anyone where I am, and if they come calling… well cover for me,” Clint looked away as if he was ashamed of what he was asking.

Barney was so confused, was his brother in trouble with anyone? “Who’s they?”

“Oh you’ll know,” Clint nodded before getting up to get a key for Barney. He gave him an address for an island in the Bahamas and told him that the key would unlock all of his secrets. Then he rushed out the door and said he was late for work. 

Three days later, Barney stood in a bank vault using Clint’s key to open a lockbox. He quickly looked both ways before slowly turning the key, wondering just what secrets Clint held. Barney was beyond disappointed when all that was in the lockbox was two flip phones and a pager. He couldn’t help himself from rolling his eyes at how far out of touch with technology his younger brother was. Time to try and crack the code on these bad boys and find out what they do.

Despite just how much his curiosity was burning, Barney won’t turn on any of the aforementioned objects until he is safely back home at his off the grid farm. Then, he’s too excited to see his wife and kids again that he can’t help but place the two phones and a pager into his workshop before promptly forgetting about them. It’s not until Lila asks if she can help him make some arrows that he remembers his promise to his brother. 

After going to four different stores trying to find a damn phone charger for these things, and a quick google search for how to get a fucking pager to work, Barney is finally in business. Immediately one of the phones starts buzzing and doesn’t stop. He jumps a little in his seat before realizing that this is probably Clint’s main cell phone, and that he’s probably had at least 3 people try to contact him in his absence. Barney knows he tried texting and calling his brother hundreds of times himself so he’s sure that the vibration will continue for quite a while. He placed that phone on an extra rag he had laying on the back of his workbench, and turned to the other phone. 

There is nothing particularly interesting about this phone; nothing of note. There are no contacts, no messages, no pictures, nothing. It is as if this phone has never existed, so why does Clint consider it one of his most prized secrets? He continues puzzling over the phone for the next half hour, even going as far as looking up it’s history through a few less than legal methods he learned while still being active with the FBI, but the phone continued to be a mystery. Deciding that the phone would just have to stay as such for the time being, he looked at the third item his brother left him.

The pager was nondescript. As far as Barney was concerned, unless you were a doctor you shouldn’t be using a pager past 1999 anyways. The backlog on the pager had a few messages that must have been from Natasha as they were vague and, often, pointed. He assumed this was Clint’s main way of communicating on missions and left it at that. 

By the time Clint’s personal phone stopped buzzing, Barney was ready to throw it against the wall. As expected, he had about a hundred miscalls from himself, Natasha, and SHIELD, 250 texts from the same people and 1 wrong number, and about 3 emails telling him to use his free pizza coupon before it expired. He had the phone in his hand ready to turn it back off when it started ringing again. 

“Barton,” he answered.

“Clint?” Natasha breathed, “finally, your phone has been off for almost a year and I haven’t seen any messages left by you in any of our safe houses.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble sweet cheeks, but you’ve got the wrong Barton.”

“Damn you Barney. Where’s Clint?” Natasha hissed.

“Avoiding the lots of you. I only just got ahold of his phone and it’s worth shit in trying to find him,” Barney scoffed.

“He’s avoiding you too then,” Natasha murmured as if she hadn’t meant for him to hear that. “Guess we’ll all just have to keep wondering where he went.”

“You know Clint, he’ll turn up when he’s ready to be found,” Barney sighed, “in the meantime you’re stuck with me.”

Barney hung up the phone and proceeded to shut it off. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with the pager or the other phone but he intended on keeping them charged and ready for Clint’s return, whenever that may be. He put the items out of his mind, and left to enjoy dinner with his family. 

Two days later, the pager goes off. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Avengers Assemble” is blazing across the pager and Barney instantly knows that Clint has gotten him into deep shit. He’s got a wife, two kids, and a baby on the way (one that Natasha has already asked to have named after her, and when exactly did he adopt his brother’s best friend again), he doesn’t have time to go gallivanting across the world trying to avenge it. Yet, he promised Clint he would keep his secret and unfortunately none of the other Avengers seem to know he’s missing yet. So time to hope no one can tell the difference between them. 

After assuring Laura that all would be fine and that he would take care of himself, Barney is on a plane to New York to meet up at Stark Tower. He’s not exactly prepared for any type of combat, seeing as he’s been retired from the FBI for 3 years and hasn’t shot his bow in an official capacity in even longer than that. He really hopes that this is a simple call for assembly and not a world ending battle or anything, because he’s really not sure he can handle anything too extreme right now. 

With a deep breath and quick prayer that all will turn out okay, Barney steps off the elevator and walks out into the common area of the Avengers floor at Stark Tower. 

“Barton, you’re late”, Steve mother fucking Captain America Rogers called from the bar area.

Barney isn’t sure how Clint would respond in these situations, doesn’t even know how he ever interacted with the Avengers, so he decides to just be his snarky self and hope for the best. “Am I? Looks like I’m right on time,” Barney faked looking around the room as if to prove his point.

“Has he always been this snarky? Are we just not going to talk about it? Whatever, point is, Loki’s scepter is missing and we need to hunt it down. Cap, take it away,” Tony Stark rambled off at lightning speed. Barney always forgot how fast city folk talked, but so far so good he thinks. 

Barney decides to tune out the conversation and to instead focus on the body language of everyone in the room; he needs to get a feel for the dynamics of the team so that he knows where he’s supposed to fit in amongst them. He’s just finished figuring out Thor, awkward and not quite sure of himself and the power he possesses yet, when he caught Natasha staring at him. She merely raised an eyebrow and inclined her head, as if she was asking him to meet her in the hallway to talk. 

He knows from experience that he can’t avoid the Widow forever so he gets up and heads to where she indicated before, “sorry gotta take a wizz”. Barney is second guessing what he told everyone when he realizes that he doesn’t even know where the fucking bathroom is in this place when Natasha materializes right in front of him. 

“Where exactly is the bathroom in this place? Did I even go in the right direction?”, he asked.

“Down the hall and to your left,” Natasha said while staring a hole into his forehead, “not even going to tell me what you’re doing here then?”

“You know why I’m here Nat. Do you think anyone else has noticed yet?” Barney questioned. 

“No I don’t think any of them knew him quite the way we do,” Nat tilted her head down while speaking.

“I’m disappointed that no one saw the need to get to know my brother, but I can’t say I’m not enjoying it working in my favor for once,” Barney shrugged.

“He’s still in hiding then?” she asked.

“He sent me to get this pager but won’t come and see me or the family. The kids miss him. I miss him”, Barney whispered.

“I wish he wasn’t being so stubborn about this. We can help,” Nat said.

“I know Nat, I know. He’s not ready yet though and we can’t force him to be. I just wish he wasn’t leaving me to do his damn job for him. I’m not a fucking Avenger, I’m a washed up circus performer and ex-FBI,” Barney huffed.

“And yet, you’re the best person for the job. Now come on, we’ve got Hydra to take down,” Nat turned and headed towards the armory. 

Before Barney knows it, he’s gone to five different bases in as many weeks hunting after some magical scepter and if he’s not mistaken it’s the same one that messed his brother up so much that he decided to rejoin the fucking circus. Now, Barney has never seen the damn thing but if it has so much power that it has someone willingly signing up to scoop shit for the unforeseeable future, he really has no interest in it getting into the wrong hands. So, he goes with the Avengers, he shoots a bow and arrow, and he hopes for the best. 

They’re about to go hunt down their sixth base, and Barney is just thankful that they give him a little bit of time in between each raid so he can see his family and explain to his kids that while Uncle Clint is off saving himself, Daddy is taking up the mantle of Hawkeye. His son thinks it’s especially cool that his dad is a goddamn superhero, but Barney just can’t help waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

The shoe drops when he’s shot on the sixth base raid. They’ve found the magical spear thing, when an ‘enhanced’ individual catches his arrow out of thin air causing him to get hit in the side with a bullet. On the team’s way back to Stark Tower he has to lie down on a table and hope that they can figure out a way for his skin to knit back together as quick as possible, and he has to figure out how he’s going to explain another injury to his wife when he promised her he was retired. 

While Barney’s skin is being knit back together, he hears Stark make a comment about him having a girlfriend. He paused for a second to take a drink of whatever green shit Tony thinks is a good after mission pick me up, while trying to figure out how he can stay true to himself and to who Clint is. Clint may still be missing in action, but as far as Barney is concerned he will be making a return back to the Avengers and he doesn’t want to confuse anyone more than he already has. 

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” is what he settled on.

“That I can’t help you with,” Dr. Cho snarked back.

There, that’s good, Barney thinks. He can hold off any further questions about his personal life, while also keeping Clint’s whereabouts a secret. He doesn’t think anyone has noticed just yet but it’s for the best to continue keeping everyone in the dark.

There’s a party at the tower that night that Barney can’t quite get out of, so he sticks around, hangs out with everyone after the main crowd has left and makes a joke about Thor’s hammer; getting everyone to attempt to lift it. Just as Thor is trying to explain to everyone that they just aren’t worthy, a weird looking robot shows up and basically exclaims he’s gonna take over the Earth. Honestly, Barney is getting too old for this shit. 

They’re on a mission in Johannesburg when everything around him seems to fall apart. Apparently the witch who can mess with people’s minds is at it again, but Barney saw how that affected Clint and the world doesn’t need two Barton’s with horrible childhoods running around seeing visions of it, so he puts an electric arrow to her head and tries to keep the team from falling to pieces. Which, as he’s soon learning is the norm, is asking for too much, because the witch got to Bruce Banner and suddenly the Hulk is destroying the entire city and everyone in it. 

It takes a bit of finesse, but the team gets the Hulk under control and is on a quinjet with nowhere to hide. Barney’s flying the plane, glad for the lessons Clint gave him when he was first learning himself, and knows that he needs to make a decision. The only place he can think that wouldn’t be compromised is his family farm, because Clint ensured that Barney was taken care of when he joined SHIELD and that no one would even know he existed. Clint hadn’t wanted anyone to know of his weaknesses, and Barney was eternally grateful that it had kept his family safe all these years. Yet, he also knows that taking the Avengers there would alter how they see Hawkeye and it would take quite a bit of explaining on Clint’s part when he decided to return. 

Natasha makes her way to the cockpit, “I know you’re questioning whether or not it’s a good choice, but what other one do we have?”, then she’s gone just as quickly as she came. Barney sets course for Iowa.

Taking the team home would be a lot harder if he hadn’t already clued his children into the game he was playing, but he’s still afraid that someone is going to slip up. Laura has been nothing but supportive since he took up the Hawkeye mantle but she makes a comment that has Barney’s mind reeling. “Make sure the team has your back”, and what exactly did she mean by that comment. As far as he can tell, the team knows him better than they ever knew Clint and Nat told him they would do anything for his brother if only he had asked. So, he decides to take more initiative and to see just how much this team is there for one another. 

South Korea is a place he’s always wanted to visit, of course he had imagined he would be there for tourist reasons and not to check on the lady who sewed up his side with lasers. It was supposed to be an easy mission, search and rescue, but no, Ultron was already there with the enhanced twins and suddenly everything was a race to get the cradle from the bad guy. Just as he’s lining up to get the cradle into the plane, Nat is whipped out of the sky and he has a hard choice of getting the cradle to Stark or going after his friend, but Captain America makes the choice for him and he’s flying back to New York before he knows it. 

He’s using all his old spy tricks to get in contact with Nat around the same time that Thor shows up and makes the cradle into a flying robot man. Barney doesn’t even know why he tries to pretend he knows what he’s talking about anymore and just watches everything unfold. It feels like no time passes at all before he’s in Sokovia trying to stop a robot from dropping an entire city to the Earth and decimating every human being on Earth. 

Wanda, the witch, is having a minor freakout while the entire city is fighting for their lives against Ultron and his army of murder bots when he has had enough. “The city is flying,” he began, “the city is flying, and I have a bow and arrow, none of this makes any sense”. He tells her to either suck it up and fight or to stay inside and hide, but that he had a job to do. He feels immensely satisfied when she decides to come back and finish the job. 

Barney feels like everything else that happens is a blur, because he’ll never get over the feeling of the Pietro kid coming back and saving his life. He just had to go back for that woman’s child, he knew that he would be devastated if it was one of his own children, so he rushes off the ship and gets to him, when Ultron comes flying overhead raining down fire. He was getting used to Pietro, still hated the kid, but he was getting used to him running around. Yet, he never saw him coming when he stopped them from getting hit and took all of the bullets himself. Barney will never forget the look on Pietro’s face as he told him, “bet you didn’t see that coming, huh”. When Nathaniel is born, they don’t think twice before giving him Pietro as a middle name. 

A couple months later, the world governments decide that all enhanced individuals need to be held accountable, that they need to sign the Accords of Sokovia and effectively marking themselves on a list to be tracked and used as the world governments see fit. Barney has never been more glad that the team knows about his family, and since Clint still doesn’t want to return to the Avengers he tells everyone he’s retired; he goes about his day to day life with his family and hopes for his brother’s return. 

Just as Barney is putting Nathaniel down for the night, he feels a presence in the room with him and looks for any weapon he can throw. He turns around and throws a rattle at the intruder, wishing that he had something a little more concrete. 

“Heya Barn, glad to see you too,” Clint smirked. Barney rushed in for a hug and dragged his brother out of his son’s room, “ssh you’ll wake the baby”.

“Clint! You’re back! What are you doing here?” Barney exclaimed.

“I heard about Sokovia Barn, are you okay?” Clint looked his brother over.

“Not a scratch on me. Are you back? You heard about the Accords right? I didn’t sign them, couldn’t in good consciousness sign your name to legal documents, when I’m not, ya know, you,” Barney said.

“I’m done with the circus if that’s what you mean. And I’m glad you didn’t sign, they’re a load of shit anyways. When do Barton’s ever play by the rules anyways?” Clint laughed.

“Got it in one there. Want a beer?” With a nod from his brother Barney got the two some beers and they spent the night laughing away and drinking. 

In the morning, Clint told Barney that he found a place in Brooklyn that he was going to move into. Figured he should try assimilating to people again, might try his hand at being a barista or a night security guard or something. Barney told him that  _ Night at the Museum _ was a fictional movie, and that if that’s the only reason he was interested in the night guard job that he should give it up. He asked if he could visit him in New York, and Clint told him if he needed him he would know. 

Barney dropped Clint off at the airport a week later with a duffle bag full of the cash he had earned while covering for him as an Avenger, and told him to use it however he saw fit. 


	3. Chapter 3

All things considered, Clint thinks he’s doing alright. He’s got a top floor, loft style apartment in Brooklyn, neighbors that he might even say like him, a gig as a late shift barista, and a friend who also shoots a bow and arrow. The only things not going for him are: that his friend also decided to use Hawkeye as a name, so there are now three of them, and that he’s still clinically depressed, but he’s working on that last part. So, yeah, Clint thinks things are pretty okay, even if he can’t seem to face his demons and even if he still doesn’t get more than a few hours of sleep everyday, things are pretty okay.

Clint’s just out getting some groceries, he had run out of coffee and he just simply can’t live without an entire pot before work, when he spots some men giving his neighbor Simone a hard time. He drops the bag, sparing a mental ‘aw, coffee, no’, before jumping into the fray to see what all the commotion is about. 

“Hey Simone, is everything okay,” Clint’s hand twitched as if it was searching for his bow.

“Clint, Clint! These guys are trying to raise the rent, and can they just do that?” she replied.

“Bro, it’s in the lease bro. You all signed a lease and we can raise the rent triple if we want to, bro,” one of the men said.

“Give me that,” Clint made grabby hands for the lease, giving it a quick once over. “I’m afraid they can just raise the rent Simone.” He let the tracksuit bros leave, turning to Simone to tell her, “I’m gonna do something about this, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

He puts in the work, using all of his long forgotten spy skills to track down the owner of the apartment building so he can buy him out of the place and help out his neighbors once and for all. Unfortunately, it turns out that the owners are what he’s gonna call the Tracksuit Mafia, because that’s apparently all they wear, and that he might have to go through some illegal means to get ahold of the property. Clint tracks their whereabouts to an underground Casino and does his best to dress up in his one suit, even wearing a purple tie, and brings the duffle bag full of Barney’s Avengers money with him. Time for him to obtain the rights to his apartment building, and ensure that none of his neighbors are going to be forced to move due to some asshole thugs wearing ugly tracksuits. 

The Casino is located behind a Chinese restaurant, and he has to show his bag of money before they even consider allowing him into the back. He walks in and immediately feels overdressed, mad that none of his spy connections told him he didn’t have to dress up in this stupid monkey suit to try and look the part. Instead of blending in like he had hoped, he now sticks out like a sore thumb. Oh well, time to buy what’s rightfully his. 

He finds one of the thugs he saw hassling Simone and approaches him. “I’m here to buy the rights to my apartment building so you’ll stop raising rent.”

“No can do bro,” the thug responded.

“Why not?” Clint huffed.

“Bro, no can do. You see, bro, we’ll make more money if we triple the rent than if we just let you buy the building. What good will that do us, bro?”

“Fine,” Clint said, “then let me play ya for it.”

The thug goes to shut him down, when an old man comes out and orders him not to, “let’s see what ya got”.

Clint unzips the duffle bag and throws it onto the table, “I assume cash is fine”.

“Perfect, bro, we’ll take all of that and still charge everyone triple rent”, the old man laughed.

Clint isn’t quite sure how it happened, as he’s never been particularly good at poker, but he wins himself an entire apartment building in BedStuy (and do these men know just how expensive Brooklyn is these days). He’s leaving the place with his new deed in hand when a couple of the thugs jump him, “this isn’t over bro”. A dog is jumping in to save him and they don’t think twice before throwing him into traffic and suddenly Clint sees red. 

He comes to, in the middle of a veterinarian's office, telling them to do anything they can to save this dog, that he’ll pay anything and doesn’t care how much it costs. The doctor is a little sceptical that the dog will even make it, but he tells Clint that his dog must mean a lot to him and that they’ll try their hardest to ensure he lives. Clint doesn’t want to admit to himself that he’s already falling in love with this lucky dog who saved his life, so he keeps telling everyone who comes near him that it isn’t his; no one believes him.

Somehow, Clint walked out of there with this little golden bundle of joy who has more bandages than even he does after a particularly rough mission. He brings the little guy home, but not until he’s stopped off at a pet store to get him plenty of toys, food, a bed, and a leash. Once the two are back in the apartment, safe and sound, they promptly fall asleep on the couch. That’s how the other Hawkeye finds him, curled up on his couch with a dog. 

“When did you get a dog?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t have a dog,” Clint replied, dragging himself up the couch into a sitting position.

She simply looked at the dog in question, “and why are you wearing a suit?”

“What is this, twenty questions?” Clint scoffed.

“Just answer the question Barton,” her eyes narrowed.

“I went to a casino to play some poker,” Clint flopped back on the couch.

“Okay,” she said slowly.

After a few minutes of silence, Clint reopened one eye squinting at her, “Kate, what are you even doing in my apartment? How did you get in? I’m pretty sure I locked the door.” He continues to mumble to himself trying to work out if he did in fact lock his door.

“Locks are a mere illusion of safety,” Kate waved off.

She didn’t appear to be willing to answer why exactly she was in his apartment so he decided to get up and change out of his suit, so that he could face plant in an actual bed.

“Uh Clint, are you forgetting something?” she asked.

“No, I don’t think so?” Clint said.

“You’ve got to work in half an hour,” Kate laughed.

“Aw, work, no. Okay, start a pot of coffee for me,” Clint’s shoulders slumped. He continued his journey up the stairs and proceeded to get dressed for work.

After telling the other building residents that they no longer had to worry about a rent increase and that he was their new acting owner, he quit his job as a barista. He was only ever working there to get free coffee, but now that he had a steady income of rent he decided that he would spend his free time doing other worthwhile things. Which was why Clint now spent most of his time training Kate, teaching her how to make arrows, and showing off how to break a bottle with a nickel to his neighbors. 

The best thing that came out of buying an apartment building was that all of his neighbors now decided they wanted to have nightly barbeques on the rooftop whenever it was nice out. This worked out great for Clint, as he didn’t exactly enjoy cooking and had a hard time dragging himself to do anything without a set appointment. If he didn’t show up to the roof for dinner, Simone’s two little terrors, her sons, would generally come pound on his door and yell for ‘Uncle Clint’ to come up to eat with everyone. Grills would always welcome him up with a freshly cooked hotdog, and Clint would spend the night laughing and having a good time with the other residents.

For the most part, things were going well for Clint, but every so often the tracksuits would come and try to bully their way back into owning the building and he would have to put up a fight to prove that he wasn’t going to just roll over and let them have it. While Clint was living his day to day life, and spending more time with Simone’s kids since he put an arrow through their TV dish, Kate decided she was going to leave and move out to Los Angeles. Down a sidekick, but up two children to babysit, he spent most of his time watching children’s television shows and attempting to do building maintenance. 

While Clint was living the building owner life, he stayed in communication with his older brother. Barney was also doing building maintenance, except his maintenance was expanding his farm for his wife and kids. During one of their talks Barney gave him some shocking news. 

“Captain America called for help in getting his long lost best friend Bucky Barnes, who turned out to be the Winter Soldier, to safety. Unfortunately, Stark signed those damn Accords and have orders to take him out and now the two are at war with one another,” Barney started the phone call.

“Wow, the Winter Soldier is real?” Clint gasped.

“That’s all you have to say Clint, really?” Barney snarked.

“What do you want me to say, Barn?” Clint sighed.

“How about that you’re gonna go help goddamn Captain America, so I can stay home with my family,” Barn sneered back.

“I know I’ve been avoiding keeping you as up to date as I should on the goings on here, but I’ve got a bit of a situation of my own here and I can’t exactly leave,” Clint rubbed his face tiredly.

“What do you mean a bit of a situation?” Barney hissed.

“I’ve acquired an apartment building and need to be here to maintain and protect it,” Clint finally admitted.

“What do you mean protect it?” Barney’s voice raised.

“So I may have obtained it through a Russian Mafia, who may or may not be doing illegal things,” Clint whispered.

“Ya know, you’re kinda whispering into the phone there but if I’m not mistaken you just said that you stole an apartment building from a Russian Mob,” Barney hissed.

“I didn’t say stole! I obtained,” Clint rushed out.

“As if that’s any better. Fine, I’ll go help Cap and you take care of this. And for the love of God Clint, if you need any help please do not hesitate to reach out. I’ll always be here for you,” Barney answered.

The two wished each other well and went their separate ways. After all, Clint had some TV to watch. Halfway through the episode, he gets a knock on his door from Grills with a request to help him move some boxes for his dad. He brings the kids back to their mom and heads out with Grills to prepare an old man for the rainstorm they’re expecting. During their time at Grills’ dad’s home, he finds out that the man’s name is actually Gil and no one in the building has bothered to learn this. When Clint asked Gil why this is, he simply replies that he likes having a nickname and Grills makes sense since he insists on being the only one to use it.

Clint spends the next few weeks helping people around New York who lost belongings to the storm. He figures if he’s not gonna help the world with the Avengers, then he might as well help the world by offering a little assistance in any way he can. It turns out that a lot of people’s basements were destroyed and for those with basement apartments everything they owned was too. He’s so busy helping out where he can that he doesn’t see the news stating that Hawkeye was arrested. 

The next time he talks to Barney, he’s apparently been broken out of jail. Clint only feels a little bad that he didn’t even know his brother was behind bars in the first place. Barney tells him about how apparently Wakanda isn’t a wasteland like the media portrays and that they have a superhero of their own who fights in a Black Panther suit. Also apparently there is an Ant-Man who can shrink and grow at will, that they’ve bonded over the fact that they’re both dads, and that the guy is a huge goofball. He also tells him about a Spider-Man who is really just a young kid shooting webs out of a suit and that he works for Tony Stark as some intern. Barney is only a little surprised when Clint tells him he’s heard of him doing work over in Queens and that he figured Stark would have picked him up somehow. 

Barney continues telling Clint all about what he’s jokingly referring to as a Civil War, Clint filling in with all the appropriate hmms and ahhs, up until Barney tells him that he’s on strict house arrest due to the Accords he declined signing. And suddenly Clint has never felt worse for getting his brother into his mess and making him pick up all of his pieces. Barney senses something might be wrong and rushes to assure him, “Clint, don’t, don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault. I didn’t have to answer Captain America, but I did. Stop acting like you make all of my choices for me.”

“But Barn, you never would have been in any of this mess if I could just get over myself and ask for help,” Clint complained.

“Is that what you’re doing now then? Are you asking for help?” Barney asked.

“I don’t know, not yet I don’t think,” Clint replied.

Barney sighed, “just say the word Clint and I’ll be there”.

“Yeah I know, but you’re on house arrest and I would never ask you to break something like that for me,” Clint replied.

“You listen here Clinton, I did not go through all the shit I went through with our asshole dad, the circus, or even the fucking FBI to not know how to get myself out of a stupid ankle bracelet and over to New York to help out my baby brother when he needs help.”

“Okay,” Clint said.

“Okay? That’s it? Are you asking?” Barney rushed out.

“Yeah Barn, I think I’m asking,” Clint murmured.

Barney shows up right after Clint escapes being captured by a group of the tracksuit thugs and he knows that he made the right choice in asking for his brother’s guidance. The two rekindle over a few too many beers and fall asleep sprawled out across the living room. The next morning they’re woken up by a knock at the door and 4 police officers asking if he’s the owner of the building. It takes Clint a few minutes to process just why exactly they’re even there.

Gil is dead. 


	4. Chapter 4

The Avengers Pager goes off with a call to assemble right after they get the news of Gil’s passing. Barney promptly turns the thing off and shoves it into one of Clint’s drawers. Now is not the time to help out the team, not when his brother’s falling apart right in front of him. Unfortunately, ignoring the Avengers is a little difficult when Natasha has your personal phone number so she calls him repeatedly until he answers with a sharp “what”.

“The Avengers called to Assemble and let me tell you, this threat is one we’re gonna need you for,” Nat says quickly.

“I’m on house arrest or did you forget,” Barney sneered.

“Yes, and I also went by the farm already and you aren’t there. Care to share with the class just where you went off to?” Nat hissed.

“Clint’s in trouble and he needs my help. I can’t leave him, I’m all he’s got left,” Barney said close to tears.

“Fine,” Nat replied softly, “I can get you out of this one, and if anything happens to him, let me know.”

“Nat, good luck out there. I know you don’t need it, but come back to us. He’s almost ready and when he is, he’s gonna need his best friend,” Barney replied.

“I’ll try my best,” Nat said and then hung up the phone.

Barney heads back into the living room where a crying Clint is sitting on the couch. He pats his brother’s back and ensures him that they’re going to figure out who did this and stop them from getting to anyone else. The two brothers sit next to each other for a while trying to provide a little bit of support, before Clint asks where he went off to. 

“Oh nothing, just Natasha calling to see if I wanted to help raid another Hydra base, but I just reminded her I was on house arrest and that I can’t be seen out in public and she agreed it would be best if I stayed hidden away,” Barney replied.

“Oh okay, thanks for leaving house arrest to come help me out Barn. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here when I found out about Gil’s death. I’m barely holding it together as is and I’m not sure how much you can tell, but I’m pretty close with the people that live here. I can’t watch this happen to anyone else,” Clint admitted.

“It’s okay Clint, I’ll always be here for you. Now pull yourself together and let’s try and figure out what we can do to ensure the rest of your tenants will be fine,” Barney clapped his hands twice before standing up.

Clint tells Barney that he wants to go tell Gil’s father about his death in person, says that it’s not something he should hear over the phone. So he drives out to see him, and offers him Gil’s old place if he wants to move closer to him and be protected, since no one knows who murdered his son or why. Barney and Clint move Gil’s dad in the next day and have a barbeque up on the roof to commemorate who Grills was as a person and to grieve as a building. 

Clint finds out, by calling his ex wife, that he doesn’t actually own the building they’re all living in and that technically the Tracksuit Mafia would be within their rights to come back and take it. Unfortunately for them, Clint has never been good at taking orders and isn’t going to just lay down and let them have his building without a fight. Instead, he prepares to have thugs running at him at all hours of the day and never leaves his place without his bow and quiver full of arrows. 

He was outfront guarding the place that same night when a group of bros carrying guns and wearing masks tried to convince him to get in their van. Clint, never one to shut up while being captured and really what does he have to lose anyways, convinces them to let him show them a magic trick. He gets them to Barney’s name and suddenly his brother is rushing downstairs to help him take out the group and gather his bow and arrows back up. 

They’re standing around looking at the bodies when Barney realizes that this doesn’t make any sense. Why would the men stand outside waiting for him when they could just head inside. Suddenly Simone is yelling his name and through the window he can see a couple of the bros with guns threatening her and the boys. Barney throws a couple off the fire escape and they sit down and try to figure out how exactly the bros got in to begin with. 

The brothers come to realize that the roof was never secured in their lockdown of the place and that there could be more of the mafia inside and they wouldn’t even know it. They’re racing through the building trying to keep everyone safe but knowing that they’ve failed when a ghost of a man wearing clown paint on his face comes and grabs one of Clint’s own arrows and stabs it through his ear canal. The clown shoots Barney a couple times with his gun and takes off, leaving them there for dead.

The brothers were lucky that one of the other tenants heard the commotion and came and found them to call an ambulance to take them to the hospital before it was too late. Barney has to use a wheelchair for a little while, and Clint has officially lost his hearing for the second time in his life. The entire time they’re in the hospital, the cab ride home, and a day or two following their return Clint refuses to speak. He won’t answer Barney when he tries to talk to him, despite knowing that Clint can read lips. He won’t answer Barney when he tries to use sign language to communicate, despite knowing that Clint has been fluent since he was 6. 

Finally, Barney convinces him to head up to the roof and have a beer. He doesn’t know quite what changes this time but when he calls Clint out for being deaf and not mute, Clint cracks. 

“They took everything, Barney”, Clint hisses.

Barney sees red. He’s done everything he can for his brother but he just can’t seem to get through to him so he decks him. He exclaims that not all is lost yet and the two get into a fist fight, stopping when Barney calls him out for lip reading and tells him that they can get everything back.

Clint comes to find Barney giving Simone’s boys a bedtime story, and decides that it’s time for them to take back the apartment building. They gather everyone on the roof and he admits to everyone that he’s deaf because of them and that they have a plan to stop the Tracksuit Mafia for good, but that they’re going to do it together and whoever wants to fight with them is welcome to, and if anyone needs to go they can do that too. 

Simone and the boys leave the city, head to the harbor and plan to get out on a boat the next day. She needs to keep her sons safe and Clint completely understands, tells her to take care of herself and helps her put her stuff into the cab. The rest of the group takes point and Clint wheels Barney up onto the roof to secure that area with Gil’s dad.

Deke, an architect who lives in the building, guards the front door with a baseball bat. While Aimee, a badass chick with a pink pixie cut, rides off on her bike to act as backup from the outside. Deke stands out front, nervously holding his baseball bat when 5 huge white vans roll up out front. More men than he can count pile out of the cars wearing tracksuits and Adidas sneakers and all of them are carrying guns. Deke panics and locks the front door before running inside to assist from there.

Gil’s dad releases an entire grill’s worth of flaming coals onto the goons out front and Clint steps on the fire escape outside of his apartment and starts shooting arrow after arrow down into the fray. The lead thug yells for everyone to kill them all, and the Battle of BedStuy is on faster than Clint can fire another arrow. There is a mass flurry of thugs into the building and all the tenants work together to take them down. 

The guys left inside continue to work on barricading the staircase with all the chairs, tables, and other assortment of furniture they can to hold off the assault from the goons down below. Deke quickly joins them above the barricade and tells them that he tried but he couldn’t hold them off any longer. Before they know it, Aimee has driven Clint’s car through the remaining bros outside and closes off the entrance to the front so that no one else can get in. 

Clint focused on shooting multiple arrows at a time to slow down as many goons as possible when he’s shot in the leg by the clown. He doesn’t understand how this fool keeps showing up and getting in but this time he’s gonna be ready to take him out. He shoots an arrow into his shoulder and runs up the stairs, where he is promptly taken out by the old lady with a baseball bat. 

When Clint comes too, he’s tied up to a chair with his arms behind his back and the head goon is yelling at him but he can’t make anything out because he’s deaf. He’s been hit so many times, but back when his father was constantly beating him Barney taught him to never give up and to use anything he could to get back at those who were tearing him down. Clint unties himself and falls flat on his face. His leg is still all banged up from the clown’s bullet and he just has to find it in himself to get up and make sure that Barney stays safe. 

He thinks of how Captain America taught him to never let bullies win and he rushes as fast as his bum leg will take him up the stairs to get to Barney before they do, when he sees a goon flick open a switchblade and stab his brother. He holds Barney and tells him everything will be okay, and just when he’s ready to give up he sees his dog, Lucky, holding an arrow. He hasn’t seen his dog since Kate took him to California and all he can think is that she’s here to help save the day. Not all hope is lost yet. 

Clint bandages up his leg the best he can using a bit of his t-shirt, and heads down the fire escape to stop the goons from stealing the deed out of his apartment. He bursts through the window and shoots an arrow out at the goons telling them to get out of his apartment. Lucky bursts through the door and jumps on the head goon and Kate follows with her own arrow knocked and suddenly the tracksuit bros are surrounded. The clown shoots Lucky and Clint tackles him out the door and down the stairwell as soon as he sees it happen. 

Kate throws the gun towards the goon telling him she doesn’t have the guts to shoot him and when he reaches his hand out to catch it she shoots an arrow right through his hand. She immediately takes off down the stairs after Clint and catches him right after the clown pulls a gun out of his sleeve and shoots him. The two work together to beat up the clown and get him down on the ground, punched in the face more times than they can count. Clint and Kate work to tie the goons up good, so the police can get em. 

The rest of the building tenants gather together and take out the remaining goons, carrying baseball bats and an axe. The goons scatter as quick as they can so that they aren’t captured along with their boss and the clown. The neighbors look at each other and feel relief for the first time in a while. 

Later, the building comes together to clean up the place and Clint has a cane for his leg and a sling for his shoulder and Barney’s wheelchair is shockingly empty. Gil’s dad tells them how he took off and he thought he was going to help with the rest of the fight. It takes Clint a minute and then he realizes that his brother was never the best at goodbyes and that he must have needed to get home to his family.

  
  


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Barney’s back home with his family when Clint’s mystery phone rings from his workbench. 

“Hello?” he questioned.

“Barney, long time no see, eh? Just gonna take off on me without even a goodbye,” Clint’s voice rang out.

“I figured you had enough going on, what with the hospital and clean up and I really had to get home to my family. Needed to spend a little more time with them, been missing them since I was up with you the past couple weeks,” Barney said.

“I get that, just wanted to check in. Let ya know that we got everything handled, the building is officially mine; legally this time,” Clint laughed.

“Wait, you can hear me. Did you finally get hearing aids?” Barney asked.

“Got it in one, Barn. Now enjoy your picnic or whatever it is you’re up to tonight. Love ya,” Clint hung up the phone.

Barney headed back outside to his family, wearing his ankle monitor once again. Laura was headed over to set the table with the boys, carrying hotdogs and hamburgers, and Barney was teaching Lila how to hit the bullseye on the target with her bow and arrow. He jumped a little in excitement when the arrow hit it’s target before he heard a yelp, and when he looked back Lila was a pile of ashes in the air. He quickly turned around and watched as his wife and two sons were whisked away as well. He ran into the house as fast as he could, using Clint’s phone and calling the same number Clint had used. He called a dozen times with no answer, before just heading to his private quinjet and heading for Brooklyn to see for himself. 

As Barney flew across the United States, all he could see was chaos as seemingly millions of people just up and disappeared without a trace. 


	5. Chapter 5

Clint comes to, in his apartment, 5 years later and suddenly can’t remember what he was supposed to be doing. The last thing he remembers is heading to the kitchen for more cereal, but that doesn’t explain why all of his furniture is covered in dust. He tilts his head for a moment trying to figure out what that sound is coming from, and is happy to note that whatever happened to him hasn’t caused his hearing aids to stop working. A minute later his apartment door is ripped open and Simone and her two boys are running in.

“I can’t believe you’re all back! I’ve been running the place for you but after the Battle of Bed-Stuy, I just couldn’t get rid of all your stuff. I’m so” Simone began in a rush, but her words broke and she was crying.

Clint rushed forward to hug her and the boys, while her youngest spoke up, “Uncle Clint, we’ve missed you so much.” Clint was shocked to see just how big her youngest had gotten and that he now appeared older than his brother. 

Almost afraid to ask, Clint swallowed a few times before letting out a barely audible, “What happened?” He spent the next few hours finding out that some guy named Thanos had snapped half the Earth away in some savage prayers for salvation. Clint listened in half a daze, dying to ask after his friends and family, but also scared to since he had been lying to them for so long. He came back to the conversation when Simone mentioned Barney, “Wait, what about Barney? Is he okay?”

“Barney survived the snap, he came here looking for you and found us instead. I’m afraid he had a bit of a rough time with everything. He tried telling us not to hope for the future, that you were all dead, but we just couldn’t believe that. We knew there was a way,” Simone replied.

Clint politely ushered them out of the house and went to find a way to track down his brother. If he knew anything, he knew his brother was out there fighting this Thanos guy and he needed to know if he could be of any help. “Clint, I hate to tell ya but you’re just a little too late. Thanos is dead, and so is” Barney’s voice cracked on the phone and he instantly knew that whatever happened when he was gone had really messed up his brother. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything right now. Where are you? I’ll meet you at the farm as soon as I can,” Clint rushed out.

“I’m on my way there now. Whatever happens, no matter what you think of me after this, just know that I love you baby brother,” Barney rushed out.

“Don’t talk like that Barn, if you could stand by me these last couple years.. Well before the snap thing, then I can be here for you no matter what. Unconditionally Barn, you know that.”

Clint wasn’t sure he was ready to hear what had happened in his absence. Not if it made his brother sound like that; like he wasn’t worthy of all the love in the world. He doubled his efforts to get to the farm as soon as possible and knew that he could make it in a day if only he drove extra fast. He was sure the cops would understand in situations like this one. 

When Clint finally saw Barney, his first thought was relief; his brother was alive and well. His second thought was ‘what the ever-loving futz’, because Barney had a mohawk, tattoos up his left arm, and the most haunted look in his eyes. Instantly, Clint knew that whatever it took to bring back humanity, and whatever went down in the years he was missing, took almost all the good out of him.

“Barn, what’s wrong?” Clint whispered.

Barney ran towards Clint, catching him in a hug, and dropping his forehead to his shoulder. Clint could feel his brother’s body trembling, and with wetness steadily dampening his shirt, he asked in a barely audible tone, “what exactly happened? Just what did I miss?”

“Clint, I did something bad,” Barney spoke just loud enough for Clint’s hearing aids to pick up.

“Oh Barney, you went Dark Hawkeye again didn’t you? You don’t have to tell me. It’s okay. I understand,” Clint whispered.

“She’s gone, Clint,” Barney kept repeating over and over, “she’s gone”. And Clint wasn’t sure how he just knew that Barney meant Natasha, but he did. Laura was in the house, Kate called him on his way over, and there was only one other female in his life he couldn’t get in touch with, but that he would stop at nothing to talk to. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what happened to his best friend, but he knew that whatever it was would haunt him. He had failed her these last few years, letting his depression take over for him. He shut her out. It’ll always be his greatest regret. 

It took Clint the better part of an hour to get Barney to be able to stand on his own again, and another twenty minutes to get him walking towards the living room couch. When they were finally seated inside, Clint told him that he didn’t need to know what happened during the Battle with Thanos, but that he was willing to listen whenever Barney felt he was ready to speak.

Four and a half days later, Barney woke Clint by shaking his bed repeatedly, placed a pot of coffee on the bedside table, threw a bow at him, and signed for him to meet him down at the range that was a mile down the path in the corn fields. It took Clint longer than he was willing to admit to register just what happened and get himself out to the range, a gallon sized travel mug of additional coffee in hand. Walking down the path, Clint tried to organize his thoughts and figure out just what he could say to Barney to offer the kind of support he would need.

Clint approached the range slowly so as to not spook his brother, but Barney didn’t even look up as he buried arrow after arrow into the target. Before Clint could even announce his presence Barney, without turning around, blurted out “Natasha sacrificed herself so I could live. She died to save me,” and finally Barney let his arms drop, almost dropping his bow. 

Clint took up the position next to Barney and began shooting where he left off, “yeah, sounds like the kind of self-sacrificing idiot she was. Always trying to prove that she wasn’t her past. Not that any of us ever held that against her.” Clint wasn’t sure what he should do for his brother at that moment, so he did what he did best and just kept up a steady stream of arrows hitting their mark.

“I wanted to die Clint. I did so many bad things in that time; while you were all away,” Barney took a deep breath, “and it was time for me to go. I could feel it. Even though she was the one who jumped, part of me died that day, and I don’t know how to face my family after that. How to tell them that I killed so many people while they were gone. How to tell them that I’m the reason they’ll never see Auntie Nat again”.

“You can’t think like that Barn. Nothing could have stopped Nat from doing what she wanted. Not then when we first met, and certainly not when the fate of the world was at stake. And you know her, she would do anything for your kids. Hell, you named Nathanial after her when Laura told you about their conversation about her being sterile. She ensured that her godson wouldn’t grow up without a dad and now it’s your turn to step up and do what she wanted you to do,” Clint said.

“It’s just a lot,” Barney shrugged.

“I know, and you’re the best person to take it on. You’ve always been there for me Barn: when dad beat me, when I lost my hearing the first time, when I lost my hearing the second time, when I needed help saving my apartment building and my residents, when I couldn’t continue being Hawkeye, when I needed you to save the world time and time again, and most importantly when I needed you to save  _ me _ . Now it’s my turn, let me be there for you,” Clint stopped shooting to look at his brother.

“Okay”, Barney sighed.

“Are you asking for help, Barn?” Clint took a step closer to his brother.

“I’m asking for help,” Barney’s shoulders shook.

“Okay, tell me what you need; tell me what I can do to help,” Clint said with conviction.

“I can’t do it anymore,” Barney said.

“Do what anymore,” Clint asked skeptically.

“I can’t continue being Hawkeye. It’s time for me to go back into retirement. The world needs the real Hawkeye. The world needs Clint Barton,” Barney said.

“Okay, Barn,” Clint breathed.

“Are you sure Clint? I know Loki was hard on you, and I know that this is probably the last thing you would want,” Barney trailed off.

“It’s okay, I’ve been hiding, but maybe you’re right. Maybe it  _ is _ time for me to reenter the workforce,” Clint tried to shrug nonchalantly.

“If you’re really not ready Clint you don’t have to do this. We can both enter retirement. It’s not like anyone would be surprised if I decided to take some time off after everything that went down in the last 5 years. Actually, I would be surprised if the team just let me continue helping without any sort of punishment.”

“Yeah, right,” Clint said flatly, “like Steve Rogers would ever punish anyone for something they did when they were hurting”.

“Steve Rogers is no longer Captain America,” Barney said pointedly.

“You can’t just drop a bomb like that with no context Barney,” Clint spluttered.

“He went back in time to return the infinity stones, you remember them right? Like the one that Loki used to control you?” when Clint nodded Barney continued, “and apparently he decided to stay there and live his life out with Peggy Carter. Passed the shield onto Wilson and everything, I only just got the call about it the other day.”

“Why didn’t you tell them you were retiring when you talked to whoever Wilson is?” Clint asked.

“The Falcon, Clint. Do you ever listen to anything I tell you?” Barney glared.

“No. Obviously. But you didn’t answer my question,” Clint laughed.

“I didn’t tell them I was retiring because I was hoping that you would agree to take up the position once again,” Barney said.

And as much as Clint wanted to, he just couldn’t argue with his older brother. Not this time.

Clint wasn’t sure how he felt about taking up the mantle once more, it had been a long time since he donned the black and purple costume and called himself an Avenger, but, well, Clint would do anything for Barney. Including facing his biggest fear. 

  
  


\--

  
  


When Clint got back to New York, he waited and waited for a call. He knew that the Avengers didn’t call all that often, and that they all thought he was busy with a family because of the time Barney had to take them to the farm for safety against Ultron, but he still worried that maybe his brother was right. Maybe they were punishing him for all the bad that he had done. Logically, Clint knew this was false. He knew that this was all in his head, that his overactive imagination was playing tricks on him, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling.

So, Clint began to plan. He tracked down all the information he could on this Sam Wilson, Falcon, Captain America guy, and got to work. He was shocked when he found out that he was working together with the Winter Soldier to fight off some Zemo guy. From what little he could remember of Barney’s stories, he was under the impression that the two hated each other. Additionally, if the Winter Soldier was involved, Clint was sure that tracking down their whereabouts was going to be a lot harder than he initially anticipated. 

To quote Clint’s favorite TLC song, he wasn’t no scrub, so he pulled every last trick he remembered from his spy days and narrowed down the location of Captain America and his glorified sidekick to three residences in the DC area. The night before Clint was going to make his trip down there, Barney called, “before you go gallivanting to whatever place you think Sam and Bucky might be holed up, why don’t you just stop by the Stark lake house. Last I heard they were still running Avengers operations out of there.”

_ Bucky _ , Clint mouthed to himself.

“What the futz Barn, you really know how to ruin all my fun,” Clint sighed.

“Oh and you might wanna stop using futz instead of fuck. You don’t work for SHIELD anymore, you can say fuck without it getting censored out of reports,” Barney laughed.

“I told you that in confidence, Barn! I can stop anytime! We’ve talked about this,” Clint spluttered.

“God Clint, it’s not an addiction, it’s a simple word,” Barney said.

“It started ironically, but yeah I’m working on it.  _ Gosh, it’s just a phase Dad,”  _ Clint raised his voice.

“ _ Bye _ , Clint,” Barney huffed.

“You don’t get to--,” Clint began before pulling away to look at his phone. “That mother fucker just hung up on me.”

With his original plans completely spoiled, he plopped down on his couch and figured it was time to just do what Clint Barton’s Hawkeye did best: wing it. After all, it’s not like anyone was going to notice the difference between him and Barney anyways. Barney got away with it after all, and out of the two of them Clint was always the better agent. 

“Ya know Lucky, I think everything is gonna work out just fine. I’ll be an Avenger again before we know it and nobody will even care that I disappeared for the last however many years and had my brother fill in for me. It’s not like any of the original Avengers are around anyways,” Lucky rolled over for belly rubs, “you don’t care, do you? It’s all about the belly rubs for you, huh?”

In the morning, Clint programmed the address Barney texted him for the Avengers Compound into his phone’s GPS, and threw a duffle bag in the back seat. He gingerly placed his bow and quiver on the front seat and headed back inside for Lucky. After a quick walk around the block, he dropped him off with Simone and told him to be a good boy. 

Clint took one last look at his Brooklyn apartment before saying ‘fuck it’, and leaving for upstate New York. Either this worked or it didn’t, but it wouldn’t help to stand there and dwell on it.


	6. Chapter 6

Clint was second guessing his decision to wear jeans and a purple flannel on his journey to once more become an Avenger. He wasn’t sure what Barney had convinced the team he was like, but he also felt it wasn’t ceremonial enough for just how momentous this felt. To make matters worse, here he was on his way to meet two team members he’s only seen pictures of. One was a ghost story he learned at SHIELD of being the world’s best assassin, and the other was who Steve Rogers deemed worthy enough of taking up the Captain America mantle. In other words Clint was in deep shit, and he was gonna get out of it in the only way he knew how: winging it.

As he headed up the driveway of the lake house, he heard voices in the back and decided to bypass the house entirely and make his way towards the speaking teammates. Clint wasn’t exactly attempting to keep his steps quiet, but both his years training as a secret agent and his years sneaking about with the circus made his silent arrival habitual. He was coming up to a weird looking machine, that he so desperately wanted to touch, when he could make out two figures arguing in the distance. 

Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson weren’t exactly what Clint had pictured them to be, or rather Bucky Barnes wasn’t, he never really pictured Sam Wilson all that much if he was honest. Not that Clint had much school experience, having spent most of his childhood in a traveling circus, but he can remember learning about Sergeant Barnes of the Howling Commandos in grade school and for the life of him he never would have guessed he was so  _ short _ . Clint isn’t exactly a giant, only a couple inches taller than Barney, yet he would wager that he would practically tower over the guy. 

Clint was around the secret operative world long enough to know that anyone can be an assassin, not to underestimate anyone, and if he should be afraid of anyone at all it should be the Winter Soldier. So he decides his best bet is to do some recon. He slowly steps around the machine to find a spot he can hide in, and one where he can hear just a bit better. 

He’s just getting settled into the crevice between two trees, when Bucky’s head snaps up and his eyes find Clint’s. 

Sam trailed off in the middle of his sentence when he realized that he no longer had his partner’s attention, and followed his line of sight to see what had interrupted their discussion. “Oh hey Clint!” Sam waved, “what are you doing in those trees? Are you hiding?”

“What, this? Figured I should find cover from your argument before you started throwing things,” Clint said with a laugh.

Bucky tilted his head a bit to look at Clint, before snapping his head back to Sam, “I don’t think that’s Hawkeye”.

“Nonsense,” Sam responded, before yelling back towards Clint, “did ya come to join us on our hunt for Zemo? I thought you were planning on retiring, spending time with the family.”

“Well, ya know, just came to let you guys know that I’m around if you need an extra hand,” Clint scratched the back of his neck.

“That is most definitely not Hawkeye,” Bucky said to Sam raising his gun and pointing it right at Clint. 

“Barnes are you crazy? What are you doing?” Sam shouted.

Clint slowly raised his hands in front of him, backing out of his hiding space to show them he was unarmed, “uh, I think you have the wrong idea here.”

“No I don’t,” Bucky snapped, “you aren’t Hawkeye and I can name a whole list of reasons as to why.”

“First off, I am Hawkeye,” Clint gestured to himself, “my name is Clinton Francis Barton, and I was controlled by Loki during the Battle of New York.”

“Is Clint’s middle name Francis? Cause damn that sucks if it is,” Sam snorted.

“Oh shut up Wilson,” Bucky said without even sparing Sam a glance, “you’re two inches taller than the real Clint, you have a completely different hair style than the one Hawkeye was sporting not even a week ago, and you’re wearing purple hearing aids. Last I checked, Hawkeye wasn’t deaf. So either you’re a pretty decent cosplayer or you’ve been sent to spy on us.”

Clint couldn’t help it, he laughed, “yeah, no. Neither of those. I’m actually Hawkeye. Uh? I can explain?”

“Sure, you can explain while I interrogate you,” Bucky answered.

Next thing Clint knows, he’s inside the Lake House and handcuffed to a chair in the living room. ‘At least they let me keep my hearing aids’, Clint thinks. He is not, however, convinced that he isn’t going to be tortured for information. He’s fairly certain Barnes won’t believe a word he says anyways, Sam seems a little softer so he might be able to get him on his side at least. 

“Welcome back to the land of the living, care to get started?” Bucky smirks.

“Started with what?” Clint asked apprehensively.

“With telling us who you are and why you’re here,” Bucky answered, barely holding back an eye roll. 

“Where’s Wilson?” Clint looked around.

“In the kitchen making sandwiches,” Bucky raised his voice, “because he’s soft!”

Clint chuckled.

“But you didn’t answer my question,” Bucky said.

“I already told you, I’m Clint Barton and I’m here to lend an extra hand.”

“No buddy, you see I know the real Clint Barton and you ain’t it,” Bucky narrowed his eyes and pointed at him.

“No you know Barney Barton, my older brother, who was filling in for me while I got my head on straight after Loki,” Clint shrugged. “Honestly, it was pretty embarrassing that no one from the original team even noticed I was replaced,” Clint paused as if pondering his next words, “except for Nat, but she was my best friend so no surprise there. I mean she would have to be a really shitty friend to not realize that I had kids, or that I suddenly decided to move back to Iowa. Because I mean, have you ever been there? It sucks. Like, over my dead body would I ever live there again.”

“Do you ever shut up? Anyways, let’s say that all of that is true,” Clint started to smile, but Bucky held a hand up, “and I’m not, so don’t get excited. Then why do you have hearing aids? Because I know for a fact that the Clint Barton who was controlled by Loki didn’t wear any.”

“I lost my hearing right before the blip thing or whatever everyone is calling it, Barn was helping me with a little mafia problem I had at my apartment building in Brooklyn. It’s why he wasn’t in Wakanda helping everyone fight off the psycho trying to kill half the world,” Clint couldn’t hold back his eye roll at that.

“Well at least that part lines up,” Bucky rubbed his chin.

Sam walked in carrying two plates with a sandwich on each, handing one to Bucky before offering the other to Clint, “did you want me to help you eat this, or?”

Clint lifted his hands, “nah, that’s not necessary.”

Bucky looked outraged, “how long have you been out of the cuffs?”

“About as long as I’ve been awake,” Clint said around a bite of his sandwich.

Bucky stormed out of the room.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Clint asked.

“What?” Sam startled. “Oh Barnes? Yeah he does that often. I tend to just ignore him.”

Clint was almost done with his sandwich when Bucky stomped back into the room. “I’m just gonna video chat with Hawkeye, the  _ real _ Hawkeye,” Bucky said when Clint let out a noise of protest, “so we can verify this crap story that this fake over here is telling us.”

“Sure, you do that,” Clint laughed.

Barney answered the call with Lila practicing archery in the background, “sup guys? What can I do for ya? And may I just remind you that I retired.”

“Tell Lila she’s still letting her back shoulder drop when she lets go of the arrow,” Clint said from around Bucky.

“Get out of here will ya,” Bucky shoved Clint’s head out of the shot.

“Ah, so you’ve met the real Hawkeye and you’re calling to make sure he isn’t an alien or something, huh?” Barney smirked.

“Oh shut up Barn!” Clint yelled from off-screen.

“Wait,” Bucky paused, “so you’re telling me this crap shot story isn’t fake? This guy over here is actually Clint Barton and you’re what? His brother?”

“Yeah, I’m his older brother. Ex-FBI agent, father of three, happily married. We both learned archery when we were kids, travelling in the circus, but if I’m honest with ya Clint was always the better shot,” Barney shrugged.

“Best marksmen in the world!” Clint contributed.

“Didn’t I tell ya to shut it?” Bucky throws over his shoulder.

“But yeah, he really is the ex-SHIELD agent, an original Avenger, and the best guy to have on your side when shit goes down. I needed to actually take this time to retire, so I told him it was time for him to stop hiding and to man up and be who he’s supposed to be: Hawkeye,” Barney’s eyes narrowed.

“Alright Barton. I don’t forgive you for lying to us, but I wish you the best,” Bucky sighed.

“Bye Barney! I’ll call ya tomorrow for Nate’s birthday! The gift should be there around noon.” Clint shouted.

Bucky glared at him.

Barney huffed, “oh Clint, you just never know when to quit do ya? Bye guys and if you need anything, don’t call,” and he hung up.

Clint crossed his arms and let a smug smile take over his face. 

“Oh hush,” Bucky snapped.

“Ya know, not for nothing Barnes, but the last time a person looked at me like that I got laid,” Clint leered. 

Bucky rolled his eyes, and shouldered his way out of the room. 

“Is he always so cheery?” Clint asked Sam.

“Sure,” Sam laughed, “and if you’re serious about hitting on him: good luck.”

Clint spluttered, “I was just joking around, you know that right.”

“Yeah, uh huh,” Sam sipped at his drink. 

  
  


\--

  
  


To say Clint was accepted back into being an Avenger would be a major overstatement. He would hazard a guess that he was barely tolerated at best; at least from Bucky, who still wouldn’t acknowledge him when he talked.

“Hey guys, ready to be wheels up in ten? I can drive if ya want?” Clint walked out, slinging his bow over his shoulder while sipping on his travel mug filled with coffee.

Sam looked over at him, “I thought I told you we were leaving ten minutes ago?”

Clint looked at his empty wrist, “oh did I mess up the time again? My bad.”

“You aren’t even wearing a watch,” Sam hid his face in his hands.

“Of course not, it would interfere with my bracers,” Clint scoffed, walking onto the quinjet.

Sam followed behind him, laughing quietly. “Alright guys,” Sam clapped his hands together, “let’s do this thing! Clint volunteered to fly if that’s okay with everyone?” Sam questioned while glaring at Bucky.

Bucky huffed, taking the pilot’s seat and not saying a single word.

“Okayyy then,” Sam said slowly, “apparently it’s not.”

Clint took another sip of his coffee dejectedly. 

“Don’t worry Clint,” Sam patted his shoulder, “I’m sure he’ll warm up to you soon enough.”

“Eh, I’m not counting on it. Most people don’t,” Clint stared at his feet morosely.

Sam frowned at him.

  
  


\--

  
  


Clint didn’t have high hopes that Bucky and him would become best friends or anything, but he figured the guy would at least stop  _ hating  _ him. 

Clint could take a lot, but he had to put his foot down when Bucky blamed him for  _ saving his life _ . That was the last straw, and he was just done.

“Are you fucking kidding me Barton? You let him get away! We were,” Bucky holds up two of his metal fingers very close together, “this close to catching Zemo and you just blew our entire mission.”

“Are you seriously mad at me right now?” Clint asked.

“We almost had him! This was the closest we’ve gotten and you just couldn’t help yourself could you?” Bucky sneered.

“You’re joking right?” Clint laughed, “I can’t even think of a situation in which you wouldn’t be fucking with me right now?” Clint turned towards Sam and threw his arms out as if to ask ‘do you believe this guy?’, “am I being Punk’d?”

Sam rolled his eyes, “Punk’d hasn’t aired in over ten years.”

“Well either way, I stand by what I said,” Clint shrugged.

“No, I’m not joking you fucking lunatic,” Bucky said.

Clint took a huge breath, “okay, let me get this straight. You’re seriously mad at me right now, for  _ saving your life _ ,” he enunciated slowly.

“Yes!” Bucky yelled.

Clint and Sam tilted their heads at him.

“Wait, no! I’m mad because you let Zemo get away,” Bucky nodded.

“You do realize, that if I hadn’t shot that last arrow that you would be dead and then how would you catch Zemo then?” Clint asked before slowly saying, “because, you would be dead.”

Bucky huffed, “and?”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Clint clenched his fists. “I get that you don’t trust me or whatever, because you clearly have issues, I understand that better than anyone, but you do not get to blame me for making the right call in saving your life. I will never regret saving someone, and if you disagree with that then I simply don’t need to be working with you any longer.” 

Clint turned to walk away, “oh. Wilson,” he looked at Sam, “it was a pleasure working with you and thank you for allowing me to tag along, but I just don’t think we agree on the way we should do things and for that I’m gonna head out. I’ll find my own way home, thank you.”

  
  


\--

  
  


Clint was eating cereal on his couch, wishing desperately that Kate hadn’t taken Lucky again, when his doorbell rang. Considering his best friend was dead, Kate was back in LA, and Bobbi was working with New SHIELD, he didn’t have any idea who it could be. He really hoped it wasn’t one of his tenants asking him to fix something.

While he walked to the door, he pulled his sweatpants up and knotted them so that he wouldn’t accidentally flash his poor tenant. “Sup?” he leaned on the doorframe, “oh, Bucky.”

“I told you not to call me that,” Bucky said. 

“So you came to my apartment just to tell me I couldn’t use your first name? Cool,” Clint rolled his eyes.

“Ugh, no. Fuck, I’m already messing this up,” Bucky grabbed his head.

Clint merely raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not gonna invite me in?” Bucky asked.

“Not until you tell me why you’re here,” Clint replied.

“I’m here to apologize. I was working through some belated anger at Steve just up and fucking off and I took it out on you. Now can I come in?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, come on in,” Clint opened the door wider. “You really sorry? Or did Sam make you come apologize?”

“A bit of both,” Bucky shrugged.

“Fair enough, coffee?” Clint headed to the kitchen.

Clint wasn’t about to become best friends with the guy, but he figured he’d give him another chance. Besides, if he was gonna come back to the Avengers he needed at least one ally. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of this story, there will be a short sequel one-shot to follow. You DO NOT have to read that if you don't want, it's just going to explore Bucky and Clint's relationship that develops after this story's conclusion. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did to write it.


End file.
